Rise of the Survivors
by Feld0
Summary: A mysterious series of bombings wipes out all intelligent life on the planet, but the unlikeliest of individuals are chosen to survive. A collaborative effort by NickR25 and me, written to read like a coherent piece of literature.
1. Prologue

**Rise of the Survivors**

**•••**

_A collaborative crossover fanfiction by Feld0 and NickR25_

_**•••**_

**Disclaimer:** Mario, Yoshi, Yoshi's Island, the Mushroom Kingdom, etc. are the copyrighted intellectual property of Nintendo, and belong to them.

Pokémon is a registered trademark of the Pokémon Company, and belongs to them.

Any yoshian gods mentioned in the story are created by and belong to Kaasha, and are used with his express written permission.

Also, please note that the events that occur in this fic are **not** canonical to either of our individual storylines, despite using characters and settings from them.

With formalities out of the way, let the story begin!

* * *

**••• ****Prologue **_******•••**_

Today was a utopian day on Yoshi's Island; birds were singing in the pastel-toned trees, and a flock of goonies flew overhead in the azure sky. A fresh breeze was in the air, and lazily rustled the long grass outside of Verda's small house. She was working in her garden, tending to her famous watermelons and scarlet cherries, whistling a merry yoshian tune to herself. The other yoshis in the peaceful village were also enjoying the pleasant afternoon; some, like Verda, were gardening, some were out for a walk in the forest or at the nearby beach, while others were talking amongst themselves in the village square, and still others simply basked in the bright sun on the soft grass.

All was well, until an innocent shadow appeared over the idyllic village of Sophivira, cooling the warm summer air. Verda dismissed it at first, thinking it was just a passing cloud, but the shadow soon grew wider and darker, spreading beyond the limits of the village and covering the neighboring forest. A red yoshi who was chatting with his friends looked up, and cried,

"Everyone! Look up; something big's coming down towards the island!"

Verda shifted her surprised gaze upwards at the warning, and much to her horror, saw what appeared to be a humongous spaceship, large enough to cover all of Lavalava Island, rapidly descending towards her. The other inhabitants of the village regarded it with similar shock, and thought it would keep going until it crushed the village. It soon stopped, though, and a hatch on the ship's broad underside opened up. A beam of light shot out and made contact with the ground, and a large box began its slow, steady descent. It reached the ground about a minute later, at which point the light faded and the ship flew away again as quickly as it appeared. All the yoshis in the village gathered around the mysterious "package," and began to speculate about its contents, when a small panel on it slid open, revealing a countdown timer. It read, "00:01:00," and with a click, began to count down.

"It's a bomb!" screamed the same red yoshi who first saw the ship.

"Everyone, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!" a yellow one shouted.

"NO! Don't panic! We need to stay calm in the face of danger," the chieftain ordered, but his cry fell on deaf ears.

The uproar continued despite his best efforts as the bomb's timer ticked ever closer to that fateful zero.

•••

Among the chaos a figure stood still with a blank look of surprise. It appeared to be a Quilava, average in height with crimson red eyes. The Quilava had a navy-colored wristband wrapped around his right paw and a cyan bandana loosely wrapped around his neck. On his back was a custom-made archer's bow, bright red in color with orange fire patterns. A black grip, several inches longer than his paws, rested in the middle of the bow's edge. The reverse side had a thick black wire tied to opposite ends of the bow, and beside it rested a large, tan quiver filled with several orange-colored arrows with white feathers at their tails. The Quilava stood upright on his kind legs with ease, his ears folding back slightly, curious about his surroundings.

"If today is the day to die, so be it," the Quilava spoke in a bitter tone, staring at the bomb in front of him. He shut his eyes and turned around.

His life was set to end mere moments after the bomb's detonation. Was a flash of light going to blind his vision before death? Would the feeling of his body that was to burn up instantly in a violent mushroom cloud of nuclear energy even hurt him? Questions he now knew wouldn't matter. It was too late for him to do anything about his survival.

"This wouldn't have happened, had it not been for the incompetence of my brother. At least he's dead now…," the Quilava mumbled in a bitter manner.

He gritted his teeth, ignoring the yelling that was going on around him. He also ignored the bomb, not daring to stare at it. He saw it simply as a tool of death and destruction. He tilted his head sharply, beginning to accept what little time he had left.

"Just wait a little longer if this is it for me. I'll be there in a second, bro."

Hunter turned and ran from the sight. He never really cared what death was like or about the process of dying in general. One might've said that he saw himself as an outcast. He decided not to fight death's hold on him when it was so very close now. He felt now whatever things he had done were for nothing. If he was not meant to live past this day, he considered it pointless to even begin to hope he'd survive somehow. It seemed this was his final destination. He sniffled for a few moments and stopped once he was far away from the bomb.

"Everything I've done was all for nothing; what a waste! I was never meant to survive in the first place! OK brother, I understand what you want from me. I'll be there as soon as death is ready to claim me for himself."

He went on and sniffled once more. He was unaware of a yoshi, black in color, and dressed in a thick, navy blue business suit, who was running towards him with a look of concern in his eyes.

"Come this way, Hunter Darkfire. It is urgent that you follow me. Fate has chosen you to live," the yoshi spoke in an eerily calm tone. The yoshi turned his back to Hunter and sprinted into the distance.

Hunter stared at him with a look of pure confusion on his face, and ceased all thoughts of arguing. He wasted no time in dashing away after the mysterious yoshi.

He stopped for a moment and turned around. He grinned, seeing Hunter following him a little further back, and mumbled something to himself. Hunter kept up as best he could but was not as quick as a yoshi was when it came to pure speed, and understood that fact quite well. While several questions flooded his mind, Hunter felt a new sense of emotion within him: relief. It might not have been very much to have feel right now, yet it was there. This newfound sense of relief was all Hunter needed now to change his mind about death.

•••

Xenos University had gone into panic mode. Yoshis of all colors, shapes, and sizes were running around, desperately trying to find a secluded corner that would be safe from the bomb blast that was to come. Students and professors alike were frantically dashing down the hallways, and out of the buildings. Arcai, a young, average-size blue yoshi, was fleeing from the imminent disaster, too. He had managed to make it to his car, and hurriedly jammed his key into the ignition. He floored the gas pedal and roared off down Xenos Boulevard.

"Must reach the freeway, gotta reach the freeway…" he mumbled to himself as he screamed around a corner on two wheels and made his way to the highway ramp. Much to Arcai's despair, there was a major traffic jam and most of the cars weren't moving.

"This won't do," he said to himself, veering off of the main path and into the shoulder lane. He gunned the engine to the max and sped down the edge of the highway, narrowly avoiding several potentially fatal collisions and finally making it to a straight segment of the roadway. He was about to let out a deep sigh, when he suddenly heard the loud "wocka-wocka-wocka" of a helicopter flying beside his small car. A tall red yoshi was leaning out of the open door, holding a long rope out to Arcai. He shouted,

"I'm here to save your life, Arcai! Grab the rope!"

Confounded, Arcai replied,

"How did you know my na-"

"There's no time to explain!" the other yoshi interrupted, "Azuras will go the way of the dinosaurs in two minutes' time!"

"We **ARE** dino-"

"Sweet Rukbat, just grab the rope already!"

Arcai did as he was told, climbing out of the passenger's door, and grasped the rope, which the red yoshi hastily began to pull up. The helicopter sped up and began to gain altitude. Grappling his way into the helicopter's cabin, Arcai took a last look outside, just in time to see his car crash violently into the stationary gridlock. The automatic door closed and the helicopter flew off towards a top-secret destination.

"So…would you mind explaining yourself?" Arcai asked the red yoshi, who was typing away at a notebook computer. Looking up, he replied,

"We've known about this…apocalypse for a while, and have built a secure underground facility which is the only place you can be sure you'll survive the blasts in."

"Uh-huh. Keep going. And while you're at it, give me something to call you."

The red yoshi paused for a moment to check something on his computer before continuing,

"Who I am is irrelevant. What matters is that you were chosen to continue our species, and a room has been reserved for you in our facility. Space is very limited, so please be grateful that you've been allowed to live. Lavalava and Isle Delfino already blew up, by the way."

A loud beeping was heard, and the computer's screen flashed red.

"And there goes Yoshi's Island," he stated grimly.

With tears welling up in his eyes, Arcai began to cry,

"No, no, no, no! How could they?! My mom! My friends! They're all…dead? NOOOOOOO!!"

He now broke down completely and was sobbing on the floor. Between loud gasps and huge tears, he wailed,

"My…home…it's all…gone…one damn…bomb…why, oh why…who could…do…this to them…"

With military-like stabilty, the red yoshi said,

"Pull yourself together! Lying there whining about it won't make them come back to life! All of my family died in the Lavalava blast!"

"How can you not feel their loss?! Thousands more have died just like them! Why, you're just a coldhearted guy who sits there following orders all day long!"

Feeling a little uncomfortable, the red yoshi quickly changed the topic,

"We're almost there. Get ready to jump out of the heli."

The door opened, revealing a large trampoline several meters down.

"Bombs away!" the red yoshi shouted, grabbing Arcai by the arm before diving out the door and onto the large, yellow circle of fabric below.

"Bombs away?! Are you crazy?" Arcai remarked as he stopped bouncing and crawled off of the trampoline.

"I like your appreciation for puns. But we've gotta reach the facility before this place goes ka-fricking-boom! Follow me!"

By now, Arcai had learned to simply do as he was told, and unquestioningly followed the anonymous red yoshi to a nearby cave. Inside, they happened upon a heavy metal door, secured by an electronic security system. The red yoshi entered a code, hummed into a microphone, and scanned his eyes before the door opened for them. The two yoshis went inside, and the thick door closed audibly behind them. They kept running down a corridor, more doors sealing it behind them, until they reached what appeared to be a small lobby. Arcai stopped running and sat down on a small couch, and let out a sigh he had been holding in far too long. The red yoshi walked up to a desk with a computer on it, and began typing into it. A computerized female voice interrupted them with a bleak message,

"Azuras has been destroyed. The facility has been sealed around the perimeter in preparation for the remaining explosions. All entries and exits will be denied until further notice."

Arcai got completely overwhelmed and could no longer find the strength to speak. The thought of everyone who was left out there in the open world getting killed so quickly, so efficiently, and so cruelly, was too much for him to bear, and his thoughts quickly morphed into an incomprehensible mess of emotions, memories, and pain. Before he knew it, his vision turned all fuzzy before he passed out altogether.

"And there you go. Go ahead and thank me," the red yoshi said in a flat tone.

"So why us, exactly?" Hunter asked, marching over, "What makes us so special? I don't understand."

Hunter's emotions were quite strong during that moment. His eyes had been watching the yoshis ever since they entered the room. He stared at Arcai. A hint of concern seemed to have taken over.

"I only ask for answers to this. Then I will be silent," he addressed the red yoshi.

"Hunter Darkfire, you appear to posess vital knowledge about a certain someone which could be the key to the survival of those in this compound," he answered, "Arcai, from Sophivira, Yoshi's Island, in addition to being one of the smartest yoshis…scratch that, intelligent beings to ever grace this once-beautiful planet, is also an exemplary leader. Someone's gonna need to take charge when the planet is cleared for re-exiting, and he looked like the perfect candidate."

"And how long is that gonna take?" Hunter inquired.

"Could be anywhere from a week to more than a year. Don't worry; you'll get used to breathing this machine-processed oxygen soon enough."

Hunter took a moment to respond. He inhaled as he clenched a paw tightly, then glared at the red yoshi before beginning to shout at full force,

"A Year? A YEAR?! You jerks!! And here I thought you guys actually were doing me a favor. No, it seems you only kept me alive and forced me to endure the loss of millions of lives when I should be out there fighting against whoever did this! Do you people honestly think I am going to just stand here and allow this? Not a chance, Jethro! I'm not interested in even spending an hour in this molosum funhouse you call a facility! You just want me here to get after someone else? And you expect me to wait, what, a week to a year cooped up in here like a prisoner? Hmph. Sorry; not interested. Let me out of here; I don't care if I got to bust out myself! I'm not going to fork over whatever info you want out of me. I should've died! At least then, I could be in the grave with my brother…instead of being locked in this playpen with all you creeps. And…machine-processed oxygen?! What on earth does that even mean? Is naturally-made oxygen from oh what, I dunno, PLANTS not good enough for you lot?! My God…"

Hunter yelled at the red yoshi with all the might he could muster. He folded his paws sternly as he tapped his foot. His eyes narrowed with rage when he learned the terrible news, and he wasn't going to give in this easily.

"I see you have no issues in expressing your angst, Quilava," a voice inquired. Hunter looked over at the source of the voice and saw a navy-blue yoshi walking over. He wore a short-sleeved t-shirt that was an even darker blue than his skin. The shirt's shoulders had thick orange stripes on them, which continued down its sides. Just below the neck, there was an orange collar. This yoshi's chest and lower jaw seemed to be white. In addition, he wore shorts that shared the shirt's color and pattern schemes. The shorts hung down to just above the yoshi's ankles. The yoshi also wore similarly-colored sneakers, only instead of stripes, a series of orange checks extended up the sides of the shoes.

The yoshi had cyan-blue markings on his cheeks in addition to like-colored cyan irises. A saddle did not appear to be on the yoshi's back; a rare sight. Taking its place was what appeared to be a sword sheath; the handle of said sword was a thick navy blue and a small, cyan-blue gem was embedded in its hilt.

The yoshi appeared to be calm and friendly, with a smile on his face.

"The name's Syler. Zack Syler. It's a pleasure to meet you, Hunter."


	2. Chapter 1

**••• ****Chapter 2**** •••**

**

* * *

**

"Well, this poor chap needs his rest. I'm gonna take him to his room," the red yoshi chimed in, picking up Arcai in his arms. He then started down a corridor and turned around a corner, disappearing from view.

"I suppose that is our cue to follow then, isn't it?" Hunter replied, looking over, "Pleasure to meet me? Right…and I suppose you want my autograph, too?" Hunter asked, rather bored.

"Actually, no; I don't," Zack answered calmly, "As for the matter that is currently on hand, I wish to offer you my sincere apol—"

"Is that so?" Hunter inquired, interrupting the yoshi, "Well, sorry; I don't believe I'm in any need of your so-called 'sympathy' act. Really, that's the last thing I need right now, especially from a yoshi I don't even know…"

"You just met me! This being our first meeting and all; really, I am sorry about your brother," Zack sighed.

"How would you know of him?!" Hunter snarled, "He's been dead for years!"

"I'm sorry to hear that; were you two close?" Zack asked.

"That…is…none of your business. Don't bother ever asking that again," was Hunter's bitter response.

"You're a rather sensitive one, aren't you, Hunter?" Zack retorted, "I wasn't aware you really that kind of guy before from anything I had read."

Hunter took a moment to respond as his fierce eyes glared back at the navy yoshi.

"The more you talk, the more I suspect you aren't any normal yoshi…and the less I trust you," replied a rather annoyed Quilava.

"I'm only trying to make conversation," Zack sighed as he turned to look at a wall, a clear sign of boredom, "I didn't mean any harm to you."

Hunter laughed as he slipped his paw behind his back. Slowly and gently, he clenched it around the end of an arrow and began to draw it out of his quiver. Zack's eyes began to display signs of fear as they witnessed the Quilava deliberately pulling the arrow out of its quiver and grasping it firmly in a tight grip. A bead of sweat trickled down from Zack's forehead as he moved back a step. He began to think this Quilava was crazy! In this surprise, his voice rose,

"You're insane! Are you really gonna shoot me with that thing?!" he yelped as Hunter raised the arrowhead and trained it directly on Zack.

He responded with a small grin, a faint sign of confidence,

"Would you care to find that out the easy way, or should I show you? I can do it either way."

Zack hesitated, but just then, a hint of doubt struck him. Changing his attitude, he replied,

"You're bluffing, aren't you? You wouldn't really fire that indoors. There are guards here! You might miss and direct unwanted attention to yourself! You also run the risk of losing what little trust I might've started to have towards you. Are you certain you want to risk it?"

Hunter scoffed and said,

"I'm quite certain. I know full well of the risks…but do tell me: would you be able to cope with the pain of one of my arrows? If you did read about me, you'd know precisely of my legendary precision. I don't miss my mark too often, especially when I focus. Know how arrows work, anyway? They aren't the best experience, believe me. You'd rather not be at the receiving end of one of these; few have lived to tell the tale," Hunter chuckled, "The choice is yours and yours alone, Zack."

Zack sighed, shutting his large yoshian eyes, "Fire at me then, if you must…if that's what it'll take for you to trust me."

Hunter didn't move an inch. He gritted his teeth as he shot back,

"Are you serious?! You want me to shoot you? That's your grand plan to gain my trust? You've lost it, man; whatever."

Any moment now, Zack was expecting the sudden rush of pain to flood his body. Second after agonizing second passed but the pain didn't come. His eyes flashed open to see Hunter had put away the arrow and appeared to be amused about something. Zack stepped forward, thoroughly baffled by Hunter's sudden change of heart. It appeared to be too sudden to comprehend.

"You weren't really going to hit me with an arrow, were you…?" Zack began before realizing, "That was a trick." The yoshi frowned.

"No. That was to see how serious you were about desiring my trust. You seem to really want it if you were willing to endure pain like that. I like you, kid, and that means a lot," Hunter grinned, ending with a chuckle, "You might be quite fun to hang around then, but for now, let's go find that other yoshi. Whaddaya say?"

Again, Zack hesitated before replying, though he was no longer worried about imminent death,

"You're as clever as they say. Very well; you may lead the way."

Hunter nodded subtly as Zack strode over to him. The Fire Pokémon turned around and proceeded to walk down the same corridor the red yoshi carried Arcai into earlier, with Zack following closely. All this while, the former was skeptically thinking,

"_Zack I might be able to trust, but I cannot trust these other people…they, after all, were cruel enough to force us all to endure the losses of our friends, family and homes, all just to save us…and they won't even tell us why…"_

•••

It was a sunny day, and Arcai was out for a walk in the jungle. Few monkeys lived in this region of the rainforest, and it made the blue yoshi's stroll that much more pleasant as he didn't need to constantly worry about looking out for flying watermelon seeds and the like. A shy guy was passed by peacefully, carelessly whistling a tropical tune to anyone who cared to hear. All was going swimmingly, until Arcai happened upon a large, ominous box in a small clearing. Curious as to what it was, he ran up to it and started examining it. Sniffing it, he noticed that it was not from the island, possibly not even from the planet. Its surface was not smooth; many immovable panels peppered the sleek, metal exterior. Puzzled, Arcai reached out to touch a particularly small panel, but pulled his hand back as it suddenly slid open to reveal a red display reading "00:01:00." Much to his horror, it began counting down. Realizing it's a bomb, the yoshi ran back towards his village to warn his friends and family. It was a long way to Sophivira, and he doubted that he would reach it in time. Yet he didn't give up; in fact, he kicked it up a notch to a full-on sprint, dashing past trees and bushes, countless forest animals, all oblivious to the blast that was to come. He had no idea how much time the island had left, but reached his village eventually, just in time to see his mother step out of their house, the day's harvests in her arms, She smiled at him just before the nuclear clouds caught up, enveloping the village and vaporizing the world around them.

•••

"Well, this should be his room. The nameplate says 'Arcai, Sophivira, Yoshi's Island' on it," Zack commented as the duo reached yet another numbered door in the seemingly endless, and eerily vacant hallway, "Do these doors lock?" he inquired.

"We're about to find out," Hunter replied, unceremoniously grabbing the smooth steel handle with the same paw that had clutched the potentially lethal arrow but ten minutes ago. It turned effortlessly and the heavy blast door swung open surprisingly quietly. But inside the windowless room, things were not so quiet. The blue yoshi in question, Arcai, was flailing wildly on the standard-issue bed. The covers were in a heap on the floor, and by the looks of them, had been there for a while. Arcai was muttering something unintelligible in his "sleep," and it was quite obvious to Zack and Hunter that he was going through one heck of a nightmare at the moment.

The two conscious ones were about to leave when Arcai suddenly shot up straight in bed and let out a hoarse scream. Still half-stuck in the dream world, he started pleading something about his mother before he came to and realized how stupid he looked in the vicinity of two fellow survivors.

"Oh…hi," he stammered, blushing in embarrassment when he realized that the nuclear hell he just came out of was nothing more than yet another dream composed and compiled by his overactive imagination,

"I'm…uh, Arcai. How did you guys get in?"

Zack answered Arcai's question, "The doors here don't exactly lock. Guess they want us to build a sense of community in this underground facility."

"We came to see you. You were there in the lobby with us and that red guy. Obviously, there's some sort of connection between the three of us there," Hunter interrupted what would've become a long-winded explanation or even lecture from Zack.

"And why exactly did you want to see me?"

"You were one of the people brought here. Surely you've got questions or something for these agents. Something just doesn't feel right about this place," Hunter remarked, to which Arcai retorted,

"Well, I've got a question for you: what did I miss after I fainted?"

This time, it was Zack's turn to talk. He grinned slightly before answering,

"The Quilava here had a bit of an outburst."

Hunter was annoyed at this and interrupted,

"Hey, I have a name you know!"

His pupils narrowed in annoyance, and Arcai stated,

"Well, excuse me, but I don't think I quite caught your name while I was out cold."

"I'm Hunter. Hunter Darkfire," he introduced himself. Nodding, Arcai then shifted his gaze towards Zack,

"And you are…?"

"My name's Zack Syler."

At this, Arcai's curiosity took hold. Realizing that Zack was missing the usual yoshi saddle in addition to having an unusual name, he suddenly became suspicious,

"You're not from anywhere I know of. None of the yoshis I know have last names. And you don't seem to have a saddle, either."

A little annoyed, he responded,

"So what? Is it a requirement to have those things? No…"

Hunter rolled his eyes and sarcastically muttered,

"This is going well…"

Arcai continued,

"I'm keeping an eye on you, Zack. And you, too, Hunter. Don't mean to start a potential friendship on a distrustful note like this, but you can never be too careful, especially given the circumstances."

Hunter began to draw an arrow out of his quiver; the same one he threatened Zack with earlier,

"Keep in mind that I'm the armed one here…"

Gesturing towards a security camera near the ceiling, Arcai replied,

"And they're the ones watching our every move."

"Talk about not respecting someone's privacy…" Hunter mumbled bitterly.

"Sorry?" asked Zack.

"Nothing."

Arcai looked down to the floor in silence.

"How long do you plan to stay here?" Zack asked, changing the topic.

Hunter lowered his voice,

"Long enough to find out what's going on. I don't trust any of these business suits."

Zack lowered his voice as well,

"Are you crazy? These are the people that saved your life!" He looked up for a moment before continuing, "Aren't you happy you're alive?"

"Don't you find it odd that we were saved?" Hunter began, "Have you ever stopped to ask yourself what makes us so special that we were forced into enduring the losses of our friends and family, and for what? Intelligence or military leadership? No thanks. I'm not sure about you two, but I'm not staying around, not until I know the truth about why we're _really_ hanging around here."

Noticing the trend, Arcai followed suit and lowered his voice, too,

"We're never gonna trust each other like this…"

"I'm not surprised, like I'm ever going to trust anyone." Hunter laughed, looking away, "No, sorry; there is only one person I ever do trust, and he's not here anymore. Ah well."

Zack sighed, "I don't know if you ever had friends before."

Hunter took a moment to respond, as he seemed to be strongly offended by that statement.

"…like you'd ever care about me."

Arcai saw where this was going, and thought about changing the topic, but decided not to,

"I'm with Zack on this one. You seem like a real lone wolf to me."

"Wonder how long it took you to figure that one out," the Quilava replied.

Zack was now about to get provoked by him "…if you're not going to trust either of us, you may leave us."

"Why you—" Hunter began.

"I'm with Arcai—"

"Hmph; side with him, are we?"

Reassuringly, Arcai said,

"Let's not jump to conclusions. Truth is, Hunter's not alone in his reasoning. None of us trust each other…yet. Zack, it may seem I'm on your side, but there's a clear difference between that and simply sharing an opinion."

Seemingly dejected, Zack sat down on the floor and ceased his words. Hunter settled down a bit and calmly suggested,

"…maybe we'd better take a few minutes to chill before we really go overboard."

"Two minutes ago you were uttering death threats and now you're the one suggesting that we take a breather?" Arcai reflected, surprised, "Yep. Exactly why there's no trust to speak of between us. But I'll admit that it's a good idea. To cool off, that is."

"Do you want me to chill or not?" Hunter gritted his teeth slowly after saying this in a low, menacing tone, causing Arcai to shut up.

"Well?"

"Yeah…" Zack mumbled, "I'm sorry…"

"What was that?" Hunter turned around to look at the saddle-less yoshi.

"I said I'm sorry. All of us are a bit shaken right now. This isn't what we should be doing," he stated sympathetically, "I know I might not trust you right this second, but like it or not, we're in this together for now, and we might as well settle down and figure out a course of action."

"Zack, it's a little odd for you to apologize right now," Hunter looked at the shaken yoshi.

"Why's that, exactly?" Zack asked before adding, "We've done enough chit-chat for now, I suppose."

"Well guys, if you don't mind, I've had a rough day, and wanna get some sleep. Wanna leave my room for now?" Arcai piped in.

Zack let out a long yawn and agreed, "You've got a point. It's been nice talking to you, Arcai."

Hunter said nothing and walked out with an unsatisfied look on his face. Zack followed him out and closed Arcai's door behind him.

Arcai, now alone in his room once again, decided to lie down again and do his best to get the z's he needed, but the conversation he just had was still fresh in his mind, and he couldn't bring himself to escape into the wondrous world of darkness and color that was sleep.

_Something's not right here. And how are we gonna find out what's wrong if we survivors can't even trust each other?_

These two thoughts plagued him for the next half hour, which seemed like an eternity to him. His body finally realized that it needed its sleep more than its thoughts, and Arcai found himself nodding off to a restless night.


End file.
